Things to Aim For accurately summarizes this collection of work by Rodney Ross, all previously published by JMS Books and for the first time conjoined.
Whether it's a Palm Springs Christmas Eve gathering gone awry, an embittered father harassing a vet tech to euthanize his dead son's cat, or a circuit-party leftover heading to the Midwest for his disapproving father's funeral and a sister with secrets, every character's aspiration leads to something unexpected. They flail, they fail, they prevail in finding a measure of serenity and love. Contains the stories: O, Christmas T(h)ree: Stanton and Clay's Christmas Eve party becomes a series of threesomes: abandoned kittens, a vet keen on sharing their bed and a frantic couple with a little boy who rented the house from a fraudulent site. December 24th won't be a silent night.
Smoking with Didi: Pete makes a reluctant trip to small-town Ohio for his father's funeral. There he's battered by flashbacks of an anxious adolescence and his late father's rejection. His sister Didi has a few things she wants to get off her chest, but the surprise may be hers when Pete opens a floodgate of his own secrets.
The Old Man at My Door: A winter storm warning blankets the news stations before the blizzard itself. But at Renata's farmhouse door, already flocked with snow, comes an unexpected knock: Albin Lawrence, an old man who grew up in the house. Renata's caution yields to common sense as she welcomes him in for a tour. What danger, really, could a shaky man over eighty, who has only one arm, represent?
Bended Knee: When restaurateur Hugh Neumann rebukes Oliver Nicholas's very public proposal to his boyfriend during a Valentine's Day dinner, the diverted Cupid's arrow strikes Hugh not in the heart, but in the ass. An unrelenting media storm of commentary begins to affect home life with his partner Dominick and forces Hugh to question their decade-long relationship.
Otis: An embittered old man's Christmas Eve trip to the veterinarian with his late son's cat Otis yields an unexpected lesson. As the snowfall mounts and city streets become impassable, is it too late for redemption?
